Chapter 36: The 1849 Gold Rush Brings Pressure to Add California to the Union

Once word gets out in 1848 about the largest gold strike in America in the foothills north of Sacramento, perspective miners from all over the world flock there to stake out their claims.

The addition of 90,000 immigrants boosts the Territorial population over the 60,000 threshhold to apply for statehood. A Constitution is written and sent to Congress in December 1849.

It contains one alarming feature for the South – the wish to be designated as a Free State. If admitted, it would not only upset the 15:15 balance in the Senate, handing a 16:15 voting edge to the North, but also block new pantations from opening.